How Loving the Arts Could Help Your Health, Your Happiness, and Your Heart

Whiling away an afternoon at an art gallery or an evening at the symphony may be lovely ways to spend some time (and get a little culture in your life), but one study is showing that enjoying those activities could actually help boost your health in a truly fascinating way.

A new study presented at the 12th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing has found that stroke patients who love music, theater, and art recover better than stroke patients who don't.

Stroke patients who love the arts were also happier--they were more energetic, less anxious, and even reported better memory and communication skills than non-arts-loving patients.

"These results shed light on the importance of lifelong exposure to art for improving the recovery process after a stroke," says According to study researcher Dr. Ercole Vellone, assistant professor in nursing science at the University Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy. "The results suggest that art may make long term changes to the brain which help it recover when things go wrong."

Fascinating, right? I've always been a huge fan of all types of art (which is good news--in terms of this study, sure, but also because my husband is a professional musician who practices a lot, so if I didn't like it, I'd be totally out of luck).

So what do you think about the idea of art helping your heart? And are you a theater-goer? A music fan? A visual arts aficionado? What's your favorite kind of art?